


This Isn't How I Planned it

by noumenon



Category: Red vs Blue
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Sports, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-04
Updated: 2016-06-21
Packaged: 2018-04-19 00:45:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4726466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noumenon/pseuds/noumenon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After breaking his arm in a game and being barred from playing all season, varsity soccer player David Washington starts hanging out with the house league. That's where he meets Tucker, who for some reason prefers to stay after school for hours rather than just go home. Why is that, anyways?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The air rung with the final reverberations of the last bell of the school day. This bell marked the last bus leaving and the official start of after school clubs. Normally on a Tuesday afternoon like this, David Washington would be heading over to the school’s gym for conditioning with the rest of the varsity soccer team. Ever since the game three weeks ago when Washington fell on his arm and broke it, he was barred from practice. He was allowed to go to games as ‘moral support’, as his teammates would call it, but he hated it. He wanted to play.

So today, he took his soccer bag with him to the old field behind the school that was only ever used by the soccer club whose members played in the house league. His bag swung next to his left side, and his casted arm swung to his right side. 

He made it to the field expecting it to be empty. Instead, one lone occupant laid outstretched in the grass in the dead center of the dying green and yellow field. 

“Hey.” Washington called out to the boy.

The boy turned at the sound and squinted a bit. “What do you want?” He called back. Now that the boy was facing him, Wash could tell who this person was. He recognized him from pre-calculus. Wash was pretty sure that this was Tucker. The school was fairly white-washed, so that definitely limited the possibilities. Tucker definitely had long braids like this, although he usually wore glasses.

“Are you using the field?” Wash asked.

“I’m on the field, aren’t I?” The boy who was most likely Tucker responded.

“Yeah, but you’re not using it.” Wash said.

“Oh cool, you answered your own question.” Tucker grinned smugly.

Wash crossed his arms and dropped his gear on the side of the field before making his way to the boy in the grass. It didn’t seem like this boy would be very helpful, but as long as he was here Wash figured he might as well try. “Can I use the field?”

“Knock yourself out.” Tucker said and turned back to the sky.

“Can you get off the field?” Wash tried hard to keep his voice steady, but it was pretty obvious that he was getting upset. The boy must have noticed, but he didn’t care.

“Nah.” Tucker kept looking at the sky for a second before turning back. He squinted again at Wash’s face and blinked a few times. “Hey wait, aren’t you in my math class?”

“Yeah, I sit in front of you.” Wash said.

“David, right?” Tucker asked.

“No, well, yeah. But I usually go by Wash. Me and my teammates all use our last names and mine usually gets shortened from Washington to Wash.” He explained. In classes he always went by David, but it just felt weird to be called that on the field. “And you’re Lav-”

“Tucker.” He interrupted Wash. “I go by Tucker, my last name.” Tucker reached over and plucked a pair of glasses off of the ground. They were teal and almost hidden by the long blades of grass. He slipped them onto his face. The rectangular frames of his glasses on his round face were the only thing that made Tucker look like he belonged in high school. They made him look a bit older, and they definitely made him look more like the boy in third period. He looked so young, if he weren’t taking a senior level class Wash would still think he could only be a freshman. 

The two looked at each other for a moment, then Tucker turned his gaze back up the sky. 

“Why are you just laying here on the field?” Wash asked. 

“Cause my team practices here Tuesdays and Thursdays.” He told the older student.

“Your team?” Washington looked around the field and back towards the doors in the school building that lead outside. Nobody was heading out to the soccer field. “I don’t see anyone.”

“That’s probably because practice doesn’t start until 4.” Tucker said.

“Then why are you, you know what, never mind.” turned around and started to walk away, upset that he didn’t get a chance to play. 

“What happened to your arm?” Tucker called out behind him.

“Huh?” He turned back towards the boy in the grass.

“Your arm. What happened?” Tucker said again. “I noticed it in class but I never knew what happened.”

“I broke it in a soccer game. Now my coach is making me wait until it’s completely healed to play again, which means I’m out for the season.” Wash frowned as he thought about it. He really hated not being allowed to play.

Tucker laughed at that. “Yeah, that’s usually what you’re supposed to do when you’re injured, dude. You gotta get better at hiding injuries.”

“That’s such awful advice. Also, I don’t think you could even do that.”

“Nah, it’s not that hard.” Tucker said. “I hid a broken wrist once. I convinced my teachers I was just being stupid and insisted on writing with my left hand for all my work. I got some points off for bad handwriting and being difficult, but it worked.”

“Why would you even do that?”

Tucker shrugged. “Why not?”

“Because that’s an awful idea! Your wrist probably didn’t even heal correctly”

“No it’s cool, I splinted it. I looked on wiki how.”

“Oh good. Now I am filled with confidence. I’m sure your wrist is absolutely perfect.”

“My wrist is fine now dude.” Tucker lifted his hand into the air and started flopping it around. “See? Perfect.”

“You’re really a very strange person.” Wash said slowly. 

Tucker laughed at that. “Yeah, definitely.” He turned his head to look at the other boy. “So, did you want to play soccer?”

“Well, yes. That’s what I came here to do.”

Tucker brought himself up into a sitting position. “Aight, let’s play together. I got nothing better to do for the next hour.” He pointed over to his things on the side of the field. “Can you grab my bag?” 

Wash did it. He took the bag over and lobbed it at Tucker. “Here you go.” He offered his hand out to help Tucker up. Tucker brushed it away and stood up on his own. 

“Alright, let’s do this.” Tucker stretched his arms above his head then out in front of him. “What do you want to do, passing drills or goal drills or…” He trailed off and looked expectantly at Wash for his input.

“Passing and dribbling is fine.” Wash said. “You play on a house league, right? I don’t want to overwhelm you.”

“Oh, rude.” Tucker took his ball out of his bag and kicked it towards Wash. “Just because I’m not on your fancy varsity team doesn’t mean I’m not awesome. Prepare to be whelmed.”

Wash laughed, “I’ll be the judge of that.”

The pair dribbled down the field and passed back and forth for about a minute before Tucker decided to fake and hold onto the ball. He grinned at Wash who moved in to try to take it. Wash definitely wasn’t trying his hardest with Tucker, he assumed that it would be too easy to take the ball from Tucker but he was surprised to find that he had some difficulty. 

“Told you I wasn’t easy.” Tucker said as he kept the ball away from Wash.

“Just because I underestimated you doesn’t mean this won’t be easy.” Wash threw back before going for the ball again. He got his toe on the ball and quickly pulled it back. “Ha! Told you.” He grinned.

Tucker frowned and kept his eye on the ball, “I’ll get it back, just watch.” He went for it, but Wash easily deflected his attempt by side stepping away from him. Wash was able to hold onto the ball for a while before he passed it back to Tucker. 

“I can beat you with one arm behind my back.” Wash taunted.

“You don’t even use your arms in soccer.” Tucker told him. “Now watch this.” He rolled the ball under his foot and then aimed at the goal on the other side of the field. He took a few steps back, then jogged up and kicked. It flew through the air and across the field and hit the inside of the net with a satisfying whoosh. 

“Pretty good.” Wash said. “But check this out.” He ran over to the side of the field and picked his phone out of his bag.

“I thought you were going to show me something!” Tucker yelled from the field.

“It’s something I did.” He said, jogging back over and unlocking his phone. “It’s also how I broke my arm.” He opened up a video taken from the sideline of a game that showed Washington playing. Voices were screaming from all sides and Tucker didn’t need to be there to know that this was near the end of the game. A brown haired boy passed Wash the ball but it was too high. Wash jumped in the air and scissor kicked the ball right into the goal. The screaming from both teams overpowered Wash’s as he landed on his arm. 

The video paused and Wash exited the playback. “Yeah so, I made the winning shot, but I broke my arm.” 

“Was it worth it?” Tucker nudged him.

Wash laughed a bit, “At the time, yeah. Looking back, no. I want to play soccer again.”

“Well, at least you went out in style.” Tucker said. “That was some of the coolest shit, I wish I had been there to see it in person.”

“The aftermath wasn’t so pretty.” Wash told him.

“Well, I still think it was pretty cool. You looked like a badass.” Tucker grinned. “Can you teach me how to do that?” He asked, then quickly added, “How to do the kick, I think I can figure out how to break my arm.”

Wash laughed and shoved him with his one good arm. “You’re a dick, and it’d be pretty hard to teach you how to do it now since I can’t do it.” He lifted his broken arm as proof. 

“Right, well, you still know other fancy varsity shit, don’t you?” Tucker asked. “You could show me something. You could join my team’s practices, if you want. We could use another person and it sounds like you really want to play again.”

“I do.” Wash smiled softly. “Yeah, I think that would be fun. I can’t do anything with my team this entire season, so why not?”

“Fuck yeah.” Tucker pumped his fist in the air. “This is gonna be fun.”

They continued to mess around for another half hour, just trying to take the ball from each other. At one point Tucker kicked the ball in the air and jumped after it and tried to kick it the way Wash did in the clip. He hit the ball, but it didn’t go anywhere near the goal.

“Aw shit, I thought I could get that.” Tucker sat up from where he landed and looked at where his ball went.

Wash laughed a bit as he ran after the ball. “Well it’s not something you’ll be able to do on your first try. And again, you can get seriously hurt doing it so it’s not the best trick to try.”

Tucker flopped back down on the grass. “You can get seriously hurt doing a lot of shit that we still do anyways.”

“That doesn’t mean you should go out of your way to do dangerous things.” Wash told him.

Tucker didn’t respond to that. He just kept looking up at the sky and he had a look on his face like there was something he wanted to say, or maybe something he needed to say. Whatever it was, it never came out.

“Tucker, you’re here early.” A new voice sounded. Wash turned to see a man who he could only assume was the coach. He looked fairly young, maybe thirty years old at the most. Wash had seen him before, he was one of the PE teachers, which made sense with his age seeing as he was too young to have any of his own kids on the team.

“Hey coach Flowers.” Tucker called back. “You know I’m always early.” He was grinning and Washington got the feeling that this was a conversation they had a lot.

“Your passion for the game inspires me, Tucker.” Coach Flowers said. He looked over at Wash, who looked down at the ground, suddenly uncomfortable to between two people who know each other so well. “Who’s your friend?”

“This is David Washington, he’s on the varsity team.” Tucker told Flowers.

“Ooh, you’re on Reggie’s team?” Flowers asked. Wash nodded. “That’s great! What are you doing with us today?”

“He wants to join our practice.” Tucker answered for him. “His coach doesn’t want to risk his arm getting worse.”

“Well that’s a very fair point, son.” Flowers said, looking at Wash. “But I suppose I can’t stop you from playing soccer, so it would be good if you played with a team and an adult who can make sure you’re safe.”

Wash smiled widely, “Thank you, sir.”

Tucker punched Wash’s shoulder lightly. “Welcome to the team, bro.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. I'm going to try to update this story weekly, so there's something to look forward to.
> 
> If you did like it, please tell me! I'm needy


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's some fun with the whole team! maybe a little more hinting at tucker's mysterious backstory who knows

Most of the team was late, which was apparently nothing new for the Blood Gulch Alphas. The only ones who had shown up already were Richard Simmons and a boy who said his name was ‘Sarge’. Tucker insisted that was what he went by and said not to question it. While his first instinct was to question the hell out of it, Wash decided to let it be. After all, everyone on his team was named after as state and he didn’t question that.

“I’d have to run twenty suicides if I was ever late to practice.” Wash commented. As another teammate showed up a few minutes past 4 o’clock. 

“That’s awful!” Tucker’s coach, Flowers, said. “I wouldn’t punish my boys like that.”

“I like the sound of that. Grif!” The southern boy who looked like a senior yelled at the boy who was just showing up now. “Suicide, right now!”

“Shut the fuck up, Sarge. Team captain doesn’t mean you can actually do shit.” Tucker told him.

“And why only him?” The girl showing up with Grif yelled.

“You can do girly laps.” Simmons offered. 

“What the fuck are girly laps?” 

“Language, kids.” Coach Flowers chastised his team. 

“Sorry Flowers.” Simmons said even though he hadn’t even been the one swearing. 

“Your team is sort of weird.” Wash said quietly to Tucker.

“You just gotta learn to live with it.” Tucker told him. “They’re kinda fun once you get to know them.”

It took another ten minutes for the rest of the team to finally show up. Flowers had everyone get in a circle as they showed up for warm up yoga. Everyone on the team formally introduced themselves to Wash. The only person who didn’t show, according to Tucker, was a boy named Leonard Church.

“Church doesn’t even show up half the time.” Tucker explained. “He’s a lazy fuck and he’s an asshole, but he’s also a pretty good goalie.” He laughed a bit, “It’s the only position he can handle ‘cause he can’t aim for shit.”

“And he’s Tucker’s best friend so no, he won’t stop fucking talking about Church.” Grif said.

“Why don’t you go suck Simmons’ dick and leave us to our own damn conversation?” Tucker retaliated. 

“Plus, Church is my best friend. He is not the best friend of stupid Tucker.” Caboose, a boy who appeared to have hit puberty in middle school based on his size, scoffed.

“Church can’t fucking stand you.” Tucker told him.

“Boys!” Flowers’ voice sounded over their argument.

“Sorry.” They both said at the same time.

“Anyways, Church is only kinda good. This guy is awesome.” Tucker said. “He’s on the varsity team and everything.”

“If you’re on the varsity team then why are you here instead of with them?” Simmons asked.

Wash lifted up his cast as an answer. “Coach says I can’t play or go to practice until next season. I didn’t like that, so I came here.”

“So don’t be a dick or anything, he needs to teach me how to do a scissor kick before you idiots scare him off.” Tucker told them.

“I’m not going to teach you how to do a scissor kick, Tucker.” Wash told him.

“Is he going to be on our team for scrimmages?” Caboose asked, jumping up and down in his spot. “Our team needs another person.”

“Yeah, probably.” Tucker shrugged. “Wash, wanna join our team?”

“Sure?” Wash said, not entirely certain what he should say or even how active he should be in someone else’s practice.

“Awesome! Hey, coach.” Tucker called out. “Wash wants to do a scrimmage, on my team. Let’s play some soccer.”

“Well, we were going to run some drills, but I suppose you can play a few rounds first.” Flowers decided. “Split up boys, you know your teams. David, you’ll be on Tucker’s team with Michael and Kai.”

“Is this fair?” Simmons asked.

“We have more manpower than they do, we can gang up on them.” Donut told him cheerfully.

“Caboose is going to be in goal.” Tucker said.

“That’s not fair, he’s the size of the goal!” Grif yelled.

“Well I can’t do it and Church isn’t here and Donut is bad enough, I don’t need Kai making jokes about balls if she’s in goal.” Tucker yelled back. “Unless you want to hear your sister talk about balls?”

“I love balls!” Kai said, jumping. “I wanna be in goal!”

“Hell no.” Grif snapped. “Fine, Caboose can be your dumb goalie.”

“Okay, so where do you want to be, Wash?” Tucker turned his attention back to Wash. 

“I’ll go ahead and be striker.” Wash said. “Unless one of you wants that.”

“No, it’s good. I’ll be D, Kai, you’re mid.” Tucker decided.

“Are the teams ready?” Flowers called out from the center of the field they were using, which was only half of the actual soccer field since there were so few people.

“We’re good.” Tucker answered.

“Ready to kick some serious butt!” Sarge declared.

“Okay then, Wash, your team can get the kickoff since you’re a special guest.” Flowers told them. Wash moved up to where the coach stood with the ball. 

“Everyone ready?” Coach Flowers asked. Everyone called out “yes”. “Great! Start when you’re ready, David.”

Wash tapped the ball forward then instantly pulled it back and passed it to where he expected a teammate to be. It went to no one. This wasn’t his team, of course. He couldn’t expect it to be the same.

“Kai, get the ball then pass it back!” He ordered. She was faster than Wash expected. She got to it before Lopez despite him being closer and kicked the ball right at Wash. Kai then stayed back as an option to pass, but Wash didn’t need it. A couple house players couldn’t stop him from running up and kicking the ball right past Grif in goal.

“Holy shit, did you see that?” Tucker shouted from the other side of the field.

“Yeah, we saw it.” Grif yelled back. 

“Do that again, man.” Tucker told Wash.

“That’s the plan.” He grinned. 

Simmons kicked the ball up and Sarge claimed it. Kai was on him instantly, but wasn’t able to get the ball away. She did make him pass, though. Sarge passed the ball to Simmons further up and Tucker intercepted it. He passed it right back to Wash who scored within the minute.

That’s how the next twenty minutes of practice went until Flowers decided that some more defensive drills were needed.

“How is it even fair that you got a varsity dude on your team?” Grif grumbled as he waited in line for the drill.

“Uh, cause I got dibs?” Tucker offered. “Shoulda gotten here earlier if you wanted to claim the new guy.”

“You spend more time on the field than you do at home.” Grif said. “I couldn’t possible get here before you.”

That struck Wash as odd. Not even the varsity team could say that about anyone else on the team. They spent a lot of time conditioning and if they were Carolina, a lot of time practicing at home. Nobody came to the field when they weren’t supposed to be there. “How often are you here?” Wash spoke up and asked. 

“He’s here every day after school until 6.” Donut answered before Tucker could even open his mouth. “Tucker is a very serious soccer player, huh?”

“Donut, shut the fuck up.” Simmons said quietly, Wash almost didn’t hear him. “That’s Tucker’s business and Flowers is right over there.” Donut zipped his lips quickly and looked over at Flowers who was currently trying to get Sarge to take the ball from Lopez with no luck.

“It’s, what?” Wash looked around at the now somewhat uncomfortable faces around him. “I didn’t mean to pry into anything, I was just curious.” He really wanted to know why Flowers shouldn’t hear about this, but that was probably too personal to tell someone that he had just met.

“It’s nothing.” Tucker assured him. “I’m here a lot. I like it on the field.”

Wash stared at Tucker, contemplating his words and analyzing his facial expressions. Tucker finally ripped his gaze away and looked at the coach. 

“I’m up next.” He said. And that was the end of the conversation. 

Wash was left wanting a lot more information, but it was clear that he wasn’t going to be getting anything else from the group. They all started up new conversations with each other, playing it cool as Tucker’s personal life was pushed away from the focus.

On the field, Tucker was playing forward and trying to take the ball from Sarge and then shoot the ball into the goal. He was surprisingly good compared to the rest of the team. The ball was in the net before Sarge even realized what happened. Tucker even called out where the ball would hit in the goal before kicking it like it was a game of billiards. Wash suddenly understood why the skirmish teams were so unbalanced number-wise before he joined. 

During their skirmish, Wash and Kai were the main ones who had the ball. Tucker only passed it up a few times and Wash never got a good look at his skill level, and while this wasn’t much more, it was enough for Wash to think that Tucker could be on a travel team.

“That was a really nice kick.” Wash told him, punching him lightly on the shoulder as he did. The movement made Tucker flinch, but he recovered with a grin almost too fast for Wash to notice.

“Yeah, I’m pretty awesome when I want to be.” Tucker said with false humility. 

“You should show me some of that before your next practice.”

Tucker glanced towards Flowers, making sure he was still busy. “I’ll be here tomorrow, if you want to play then.”

“Why are you here so often?” The words came out before Wash could remember that this was an obviously touchy topic. 

The question just made Tucker frown at first. He glanced away, then answered, “Dude, why do you care? Don’t you just want to play some soccer?”

“Yeah.” Wash said. His mouth felt dry. He didn’t know what else to say about this. Luckily he didn’t have to, he was nudged forward so he could participate in the drill. 

For the rest of practice, Wash avoided saying anything stupid about Tucker or his habits of staying on the soccer field instead of going home. He almost forgot about the awkward topic by the end of the day as he fell into place with the team. 

Tucker brushed up against him as they sat and drank from their water bottles. All of the other kids were gone or leaving, so it was just them and Flowers, who was picking up cones off the field.

“Gross, you’re covered in grass.” Wash pushed Tucker away, which made Tucker laugh and retaliate with a fist full of grass. 

“Sneak attack, sucker!” He laughed as he shoved the grass in Wash’s face. Wash squirted his water at Tucker and spit out a blade that made it into his mouth.

“You’re such a dick.” There may have been a twinge of anger in his voice, but it was lost as he couldn’t help but laugh.

“Hell yeah, I am.” Tucker was still laughing. It was a nice thing to see. He had dark brown eyes that filled with his joy as he smiled. He almost looked like a different person than the one who froze when Donut brought up how much time he spent here. Wash decided he liked this person much better.

Wash’s train of thought stopped when Flowers spoke up.

“Do you need a ride home, David?” He asked, holding his bag in one hand and his keys in the other. 

“No thank you, sir. I just live a few blocks away.” Wash told him. “But thanks for offering.”

“No problem, son. You boys better get going soon. You don’t want your families to get worried.” Flowers said over his shoulder as he headed out. 

There was silence for a moment, then Tucker spoke up.

“I’ll go home.” His voice was low and kept between the two of them. “I do go home after practice.” He continued. “I’m sure you want to ask that, and I do. I just get here early.” And come on days when he doesn’t even have practice. But Tucker didn’t say that, and Wash wasn’t about ready to bring that up.

Wash opened his mouth then closed it, not sure how to follow that statement. “I’ll see you tomorrow then?” He finally asked. 

“Yeah, see you tomorrow.” Tucker threw his bag over his shoulder and stood up. Wash followed suit. The two walked back to the front of the school together, and then parted ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter! if you wanna read anything else by me, check out my writing blog [prisoner619b](http://prisoner619b.tumblr.com/)
> 
> if you like my story, tell me! I'm needy and I love comments. if you think some things could be done better tell me that, too! constructive crit is always welcome.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wash is starting to feel a lot more comfortable just hanging out with Tucker, and the same is true for Tucker. That means he's more likely to accidentally let things about his life slip out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally got this chapter done!   
> I've been busy saving Ferelden.

The temperature had dropped a bit today, which was nice. Clouds covered the sky as well, but it didn’t look like it was supposed to rain. Wash was curious what Tucker would do if it did rain, where he’d be, but his curiosity wasn’t going to get satisfied today.

Tucker was sitting on the far side of the field now, where there metal benches built into the ground for the teams during games. His glasses were on his face and his long braids tied back. Wash couldn’t help but notice that he looked good like this. Tucker was staring intently as a sheet of paper resting on the metal bench. He must be doing his homework, Wash figured. 

“Hey!” Wash called over and waved to the other boy. He gripped his bag tightly with his good hand and jogged the rest of the way across the field.

Tucker looked up and grinned. “Hey man, you’re back.”

“I told you I would be.” Wash smiled back at him. “What are you up to?” 

“Math. I hate this crap.” Tucker glanced at his homework then moved over on the bench. He kicked his bag over as well so it wouldn’t be in Wash’s way. When he did, it fell and its contents spilled onto the grass. There was a lot of surprising amount of first aid supplies in there. Tucker quickly grabbed them and returned them to their pocket in his bag, zipping it up after so it wouldn’t happen again. “You wanna work on our homework together?” He asked.

Wash put his bag down and took a seat next to Tucker. “Yeah, that sounds good.” While he did want to play soccer, he would have plenty of time to do that if he kept hanging out with Tucker after school. Plus, his math had to get done eventually no matter what. It likely wouldn’t take too long, either.

“Do you have a calculator?” Tucker asked, watching with anticipation as Wash pulled the things he needed out of his bag.

“Yup.” A silver TI was placed on top of Tucker’s paper. “Did you forget yours?” Wash asked him.

“No, actually, I don’t have one.” Tucker leaned away and rubbed the back of his head, clearly uncomfortable. “They’re kind of expensive and my dad was pissed that I’m even taking this class this early. He wasn’t about to buy me a hundred dollar piece of tech to do math I choose to do.” He laughed a bit, “As if he’d buy it for me next year or the year after. Cheap bastard.”

Wash tilted his head to the side. “What do you mean, you choose pre-calc? I’m pretty sure you need it to graduate. It’s not really something you can opt out of….”

“Oh, I’m not actually a senior. I’m still a sophomore. I skipped two grades of math when I was in middle school.” He shrugged. “There was an aptitude test in fifth grade and I got the choice to jump ahead. Church also skipped two grades of math, so I wanted to stay with him.”

“Wow, so you’re really smart then?”

Tucker scoffed. “I’m not really. It’s just math, dude. It’s not like it’s hard.”

“I’m a senior and we’re in the same level math. I’d say that means you’re pretty smart.” Wash thought for a moment. “Wait, how old are you?”

“Huh?”

“Well, I kind of assumed you were my age since we’re in the same math class. I just thought you looked really young.” He shifted from foot to foot. It was always a little awkward finding out that someone isn’t the age you originally assumed they were.

“I’m 15, but my birthday is next month.”

“God you’re young. I guess you do still look young then. You could pass for a middle schooler if you wanted.” Wash teased him.

“Oh fuck off old man. How old are you?”

“I’m 17.”

“And you’re here creeping on this underage child.” Tucker gestured to himself. “Fucking sick, dude.”

That made Wash turn red in the face. “What? No, I’m not-”

Tucker burst out laughing and shoved Wash lightly. “I’m just joking, dude.” He added a wink along with his words. “But y’know, I’m open to it.”

Wash willed his blush to leave his face and he turned his attention to the papers sitting in front of them. “How about we just do our homework, alright?”

“You should see the look on your face.” Tucker grinned. “I had no idea you were this easily flustered. Dude you totally have a thing for me.”

“I don’t appreciate being made fun of for-” He stopped, realizing he was looking a bit too deeply into Tucker’s teasing, taking it all too personally. His words weren’t specific, how could they be? It wasn’t like Tucker knew.

Wash took a deep breath to collect himself and began to speak again. “I don’t like it when people act as if I’m always going to be attracted to any given guy. And it happens a lot because I am gay, all right? So just stop it.”

“Oh.” Tucker paused. “I didn’t mean to be a dick on a personal level or anything, Wash. And I wouldn’t actually think you like me. I’m sure you got better taste than that. Plus this would be a weird time to date someone.” He looked away, towards the goal as if there was something so interesting over there. ”We’re all going to end up different places. Who knows where I’m gonna end up.” 

There it was again. Tucker dipped into something that just begged for further explanation but he was never going to explain the feelings behind it. His words hung with weight that Wash couldn’t even begin to understand and he just wanted Tucker to open up to him. They were friends, after all. Weren’t they? It wasn’t like they had known each other all that long, but Wash felt like he and Tucker could be considered friends.

“But if it makes you feel better,” Tucker continued, his face alighting and looking right at Wash as if that awkward moment never even happened. “I’m actually bi. I like girls, a lot, but I also like guys. So you know, you can make fun of me about that if you want. I’m pretty used to it.”

“That’s, wait what? You shouldn’t be so cheery about being bullied, Tucker.” 

“I wouldn’t really call it bullying when Grif makes gay jokes considering the fact that he’s in love with Simmons.”

“Weren’t those the two who were bickering for the majority of the practice?” Wash asked him.

“Yup.” Tucker nodded.

“And they’re,” he said slowly, “They’re in love?”

“They are so in love.”

“I find that hard to believe.” Wash narrowed his eyes a bit and tried to imagine those two doing anything other than fight and found it hard.

“You spend a bit more time with them, and you’ll understand.” Tucker told him. “They just need to admit how gay they are for each other, but I think they could get married and still not admit it.”

“I’m pretty sure high school is a bit early to predict that.”

“No man, I’m telling you.” Tucker insisted. ”I’d bet fucking money on those two getting married.”

Wash laughed, “Okay, whatever you say. I don’t want to go into a bet with no time limit.”

“That’s fair.” Tucker nudged him and laughed with him. “But you know, the point I was making here, I’m not trying to make fun of you or anything. It’s just kind of the type of humor we got.” 

Wash thought about it for a moment, then shrugged it off. “I understand that, but I’d prefer it if you didn’t make those jokes about me. Or bets. I don’t want people making bets that I’m going to end up with someone.”

“Hey,” Tucker pushed him gently, “I don’t think you gotta worry about that. Unless you end up having super awesome chemistry with someone on the team, you’re safe.” He thought for a moment, “How do you feel about guns? Sarge loves guns.”

“What?” Wash stared at him. “You are not going to try to set me up with him.”

“It was a joke dude, he’s our team’s token straight. Relax.”

“’Token straight’?” Wash repeated. “What exactly is a token straight?”

“Well you know how in movies there’s a token gay kid in every friend group, well in real life it’s the other way around. He’s our token straight.” He paused. “Well, Church too, kind of. I’m still not entirely convinced that he isn’t at least a little bit bi.”

“Can we get back to working on math?” Wash asked, smacking his homework with his palm to get Tucker’s attention back to the matter at hand.

“Yeah yeah, alright.” Tucker shifted in his seat to look at the work in front of them. “It’s just derivatives. It’s not like it’s anything hard.” He started to quickly derive the problems until Wash pulled the paper away from him.

“Tucker, it says here we have to do it the long way.” Wash pointed to the instructions.

Tucker pulled his homework sheet back and frowned. “Well then we can do it this way to check the answers. It’s way faster. I don’t get why we even have to do it the stupid long way.”

“It doesn’t matter! You’re not going to get credit if you do it wrong.”

“This is so lame.” Tucker groaned. “And you’re such a fucking nerd, you know that?” He stuck out his tongue before turning back to his paper and erasing the quick work he had already scribbled down.

It ended up taking them an hour to finish the worksheet, but that was mostly because Tucker kept complaining and resisting Wash’s insistence that they should just get the homework over with it if he hated it so much.

“Fucking, done.” Tucker picked up his sheet then dropped it into the air. It flitted down to the ground where he let it stay for now.

“Really?” Wash raised an eyebrow at him. He reached down to pick up the paper for him, but Tucker went for it as well. 

“Hey – no! I want it on the ground.” Tucker pushed Wash away, a bit too hard. At first he was worried, but when Wash pushed him back equally hard but with a grin on his face, they both just went with it. They ended up with Wash on his back, actually laying on Tucker’s homework, and Tucker proudly above him, neither paying any attention to the position with Tucker straddling the other boy. 

“I win!” Tucker said proudly as he got up off of his friend. He held out his hand and helped Wash to his feet.

“You still get this back.” Wash grinned and shoved the dirty piece of paper against Tucker’s chest.

“What? Oh fuck, I forgot about that.” It was slightly tanned now with a few streaks of green from the dirt and the grass. “It looks totally fucked. Is it bad that this isn’t even the worst condition that I’ll be turning my homework in with?”

“What the hell else have you done to your homework?”

“Not me!” Tucker said as he shoved the paper into his backpack. “My dad once tried to throw it away. It was all crumbled and gross and the teacher took off fifty percent for that, but oh well. I turned it in and that’s all that really matters, right?”

“You didn’t say that you dad accidentally threw it away?”

“Well.” Tucker stopped. He had a look on his face like he regretted ever bringing this up. It took a moment, but he thought of what to say. “It’s easier to just get in trouble than to blame my dad. I mean, it’s not like shit is going to change.” 

“You might not get in trouble…” Wash paused, “Wait, what do you mean it won’t change? Does your dad do this often?”

“No!” Tucker said quickly. “He doesn’t. I mean, not really. Just when he’s mad. Look, I don’t want to talk about my dad. I’d rather do math again.” He stared at Wash, who really, really wanted to question this. He was getting worried, he couldn’t help that. But there was nothing he could do if Tucker wouldn’t even elaborate on what the problem was. 

“My dad can be an asshole.” Tucker explained when Wash’s eyes stayed on him. “But it’s not like it’s a big deal. You should meet Church’s dad. I’d rather stick with my dad than have his.” He forced a chuckle, but it wasn’t all that convincing. It was true though, Wash did know Dr. Church and he was … intimidating. He coached the travel team along with coach Price, and if he treated his kids at home the way he treated his daughter on the field, well Wash was glad he wasn’t his father.

“Do you uh,” Tucker took Wash’s continued silence as an excuse to change the topic. “Wanna play soccer?”

Wash nodded. “Um, yeah. Let’s play.”

Tucker took his soccer ball out of his sports bag that he had left on the other side of the bench. “I’m gonna try that kick ass scissor kick.” He ran off to the middle of the field with Wash running after him.

“Do you want to get hurt?” He yelled after him.

“What’s the worst that can happen?” Tucker laughed it off.

“Um, this!” Wash held up his cast.

Tucker threw the ball at Wash. He ducked quickly and held his arms up in disbelief at Tucker. “What the hell, dude? Go get it.”

“Aw, you’re no fun.”

“If you keep acting like this I’m going to make you run laps.”

“You’re not my coach.” Tucker complained.

“Go run a lap.”

“Pff.” The younger boy waved him down. “You can’t tell me what to do.”

“Do you want me to stop practicing with you?” Wash threatened. There was still a hint of teasing in his voice, but Tucker seemed to have missed it because he did start running. Wash laughed and joined him. “This isn’t so bad, is it?”

“It’s horrible. You’re horrible.”

“And yet, you’re running to keep me here.”

“Don’t flatter yourself. I just want to absorb your skill then I’ll kick you out.”

“Oh I’m sure you will.”

“Okay, maybe you can still hang out after you teach me everything.” Tucker added. He was starting to get out of breath already. He likely wasn’t used to talking while he ran, which was something he could stand to work on. He should be talking to his team while on the field, after all.

Wash chuckled and the two finished their lap quickly. Tucker sat down and grumbled something about chafed nipples.

“Now can you teach me something?” Tucker asked. “You gotta be worth something here.”

“Yeah, alright. Let’s do some drills.” 

Today was weird. But it was good. And Wash realized he was having a lot more fun with Tucker than he ever did with his own team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter! as always, if you liked it, tell me! if you didn't, also tell me! criticism is always welcome, especially if I made a stupid mistake somewhere in the chapter.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Church finally bothers to show up for soccer practice today. He also likes spending the extra hour before it starts hanging out on the soccer field. Man, these kids are weird.

Despite the nicer weather the day before, today was back to being obnoxiously hot despite the season. It was always like this, but that never stopped anyone from wishing for fall weather to feel like fall. The curse of soccer. He knew that the second it got cold, it would get _cold_. It would probably also rain a lot. Cue parents bringing hot chocolate to games and kids huddling together on the sidelines. Compared to that inevitability, this was actually kind of nice. But that wasn’t going to stop anyone from complaining.

The last bell was ringing as Wash walked outside and towards the spot where Tucker would be waiting. He was a bit surprised to see that today, Tucker wasn’t the only one sitting in the middle of the soccer field. Next to him was another boy, one that Wash recognized as Carolina’s younger brother. They had only met a few times, but he was pretty sure that his was name Leonard but he went by Church. If this is Church, then that would also mean that this is Tucker’s best friend who had been absent from their soccer practice on Tuesday.

Tucker was shirtless and propped up on one of his elbows talking to a friend. Not just talking, it looked like they were just randomly touching each other at first but then Wash noticed they were putting band-aids on each other and laughing. That both gave reason to the medical supplies Tucker had in his backpack as well as confused Wash. It was an odd thing for them to do, especially since Wash couldn’t see anything on Church that needed to be covered. Tucker was faced away from him, so he couldn’t tell with him.

A flash of something hit Wash as he watched the two, he wasn’t quite sure what the emotion was. Maybe jealousy? But that didn’t make any sense.

They stopped when Church spotted Washington walking towards them. He smacked Tucker, who let out a surprised yelp that Wash could hear even from where he was yards away from them. The other boy said something quickly, probably alerting him to the newcomer’s presence. He sat up and threw on his shirt. Wash thought he saw a flash of a bruise under the numerous bandages across Tucker’s chest when he turned to look at him, but he couldn’t be sure.

“No it’s okay, he’s my friend. I _like_ him.” Tucker’s voice could be made out. He wasn’t very good at talking quietly. The other boy said something, still too quiet to be heard across the way. He was a lot more careful about volume, something that Wash has noticed Carolina being very good at as well. They both seemed to know exactly the volume to keep so that nobody could hear them.

“Yeah, he’s the guy I told you about.” Church gave him an amused look that quickly changed back into nervous as he said something else. “Are you serious? I wouldn’t tell anyone that shit.” Tucker said. The other boy rolled his eyes and spoke softly. “Yeah but, that’s different. That’s you. I got no problem telling you,” He glanced around at Wash who was now close enough that if Tucker’s friend said anything else he would have been able to hear it. 

“Okay shut up about it now.” Church hissed at him.

“Hey, Wash. What’s up? This is Church.” He grinned and waved as if he didn’t just have a super sketchy conversation with the other boy. Church just stared at Wash like he was waiting for something, some sort of reaction maybe? He also ripped the band aids off of his face. There was nothing under them, no cuts, not even scabs or zits. 

Wash was so intent on staring at Church’s face, looking for evidence of a need for bandages that he almost missed just how annoyed Tucker looked at what Church had done. Church just ignored his look of displeasure. They both looked defensive, so Wash tried to think of something to say.

“I thought you said you didn’t do goal.” Wash joked, thinking back to that bruise he saw.

“Huh?” Tucker shot Wash a confused look. “What are you talking about?” Beside him, Church seemed to tense up. It was just like yesterday at practice when Tucker’s habit of staying after school was brought up. But now, he had no idea what he had said wrong.

“Yesterday, you said you couldn’t be goalie but your stomach looks like you got hit pretty hard.” Wash explained. He was looking between the two of them and trying to figure out what they were thinking. Church was still staring at him, green eyes looking for the slightest hint of… something. Wash didn’t know. He recognized the glare though, he had seen it on Carolina before when she was watching an opponent practice and trying to pinpoint their tells. It was unnerving.

Tucker sucked in a quick breath and looked to the side away from both of his friends, clearly thinking hard about something. “Oh, yeah, no I just, I don’t like being in goal, because I get hit all the time and it fucking hurts. Plus I’m way better on defense so why stick me in goal?”

It made enough sense, Wash figured. “Yeah I get that. I hate goal. I was in goal one time for practice and Carolina kicked the ball and hit me right in the dick.” He chuckled.

“Oh god, don’t tell me that! Ugh that would hurt so fucking much.” Tucker shifted a bit to guard himself as though he was about to get hit by a soccer ball. “Carolina is fucking terrifying.”

“Oh shit, I think I remember seeing that.” Church’s face finally broke and he smiled. Well, he didn’t quite smile, but he definitely looked a lot more relaxed now that the topic had moved away from Tucker. “Dad likes to make me sit in on the varsity practices. He wants me to try out for the team next year, but fuck that.”

“Hey, at least he’s cool with you spending all your time with Allison.” Tucker shoved Church a bit. “Now you don’t have to lie about what you’re really up to after class.”

“Shit, yeah.” Church agreed. “He made me do conditioning with the varsity team for a week when he found out I wasn’t actually on a house league. Even after I tore a muscle in my calf. That took like, two months to heal.”

“But, aren’t you on a house league?” Wash asked.

“I am now.” Church shrugged. “I got Flowers to be a coach so I could do something that makes my dad get off my back but also gives me an excuse to not go home.”

“Neither of you like going home?” The look Church gave him made him regret asking. “Nevermind.” He offered meekly. 

“Now he doesn’t even go to practice.” Tucker laughed. “He spends half his time with Allison.” He made kissy noises and leaned into Church until he shoved him down on the grass. 

“Shut the fuck up dude, you’re just jealous that you don’t have a smoking hot girlfriend.” Church taunted.

“Oh Allison Tex,” Tucker said in a high pitched voice that Wash was fairly certain was supposed to be Church, “I love you so much, won’t you please marry me? I’ll even take your last name.”

“I hate you so much Tucker.” Church grabbed his backpack and shoved it on top of Tucker’s face. 

“Hey, I think I know Allison.” Wash said, interrupting their bickering. Which was probably a good thing, because they looked like they were a few seconds from wrestling each other. “Coach wants her on our team so badly. She plays in a travel team, and she’s easily the best one on it. That’s the girl you’re talking about, right?”

Church actually smiled at that. “Yeah, she’s pretty fucking awesome.” His anger seemingly forgotten as he thought of his girlfriend. It was almost sweet.

“She refuses every time he asks.” Wash continued. “And Carolina hates her guts.”

That broke Church’s momentary calm. “Yeah, she’s fucking jealous. Which is why it’s so hard to me to get to spend time with her without Carolina telling Dad that I’m skipping soccer practice.”

“His dad only accepts hanging out with Tex if he’s not skipping soccer practice to do it.” Tucker explained. He looked over Wash, who was still standing over them and unsure of whether or not he should join them. “Come on dude, sit down.” He grabbed Wash’s hand and tugged him down a bit hard, making Wash stumble. The sudden movement may have even made him fall on Tucker if Wash hadn’t gotten his balance back in time.

“Aw, how sweet.” Church cooed as Wash moved so he wasn’t half sitting on Tucker. Tucker still had a grip on his hand, though. “Look at the cute couple.”

“Shut the fuck up, Church.” Tucker turned back to his old friend and shoved him hard enough to send him down onto the ground. “You’re not funny.” He let go of Wash, as if he only just then realized he was still holding his hand.

Church laughed, “I am so funny.” He said. “But right now, I’m being your wingman.”

“Tucker?” Wash tilted his head and looked at his friend.

“Church I swear to god, if you don’t stop being an asshole I’m going to Tex about the time we dated.”

“That for like, a week!” Church yelled. “And I didn’t know you thought we were dating, so it doesn’t fucking count.” 

“Oh yeah, you didn’t know. That’s why you made out with me, right?” Tucker threw back at him. “I told you, he’s bi.” He whispered to Wash loudly enough for Church to still hear him. “You kissed me, Church. Not the other way around.”

Now Church was actually turning pink, and it didn’t help when Tucker decided to pinch his cheek. Church smacked his hand away and glared, “I don’t have to sit through this shit.” That feeling Wash had felt earlier was back now. It couldn’t be jealousy, there’s no way he could be jealous of Church’s relationship with Tucker. Right?

“Practice is in twenty minutes. You gotta stay.” Tucker told him. “You want to do real practice with your dad again? Cause I’ll tell him you bailed.”

“No you won’t.” Church rolled his eyes. “You’re not a narc. And on top of that, that’s not even fucking funny to threaten. You don’t see me threatening to tell _your_ dad what you’re up to when you do something I don’t like.”

Tucker grimaced and looked at his feet. “Yeah, okay. Fine.” He glanced back at Church. “Your dad is still worse than mine, though.”

“Bullshit. I’d rather have _my_ dad than yours.” Church laughed. He looked back to Wash and shook his head. “Come on man, let’s not talk about our families.”

“What is it with you two and your home lives?” Wash questioned. “I thought it was just Tucker, but now you’re being weird. Is it a teamwide thing or… ” He trailed off. His words were meant in a lighthearted way, but now Church was glaring at him. That was starting to be a pretty common occurance.

“I don’t see how that’s any of your business.” Church snapped at him.

“Don’t be a dick to him unless you wanna explain yourself.” Tucker shoved Church. “I like him.” He hissed quietly. “Don’t fucking run him off.”

“God you got it so bad.” Church mumbled and crossed his arms. “Fine. Sorry, Washington.”

“Great, now you’re friends.” Tucker declared. “Now let’s go play some soccer.”

“No one is here yet.” Church said.

“There are three people here, that’s plenty to do some drills.” Tucker stood up and grabbed Church’s arm, tugging him until he gave in and stood up with him. “Let’s do this shit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked this chapter, and I hope you liked some past church/tucker (because I love them...)  
> If you like my story, tell me! I love getting comments. If I messed anything up, tell me that too! criticism is always good.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been so swamped recently, so my fics have suffered. I have one week left of classes, and then my family is going on vacation and I wont' have any internet, so I probably won't be updating again until January, but I plan on writing while I'm away so hopefully early January I can update again.
> 
> I'm still working on A New Start.... but for now, enjoy this update! it took me way too long to finish this. it's been at 90% done for like, a month. I just haven't had the time to sit down and finish it.

The first person to show up was Simmons, which Wash was beginning to pick up on as being the norm. He just stood back and watched the three boys playing as they continued to play on the field. They were doing an exercise with Wash on offense, Tucker on defense, and Church in goal.

“Hey, you wanna join in?” Tucker called out to his teammate once he noticed him, which took a few minutes seeing as Simmons was ridiculously quite when Grif wasn’t there for him to fight with. “Wash could use a bit of help on offense.” He smirked at Washington. 

“I’m just getting started, Tucker.” Wash threw back. “Don’t get too comfortable.”

“You guys look like you’re good on your own.” Simmons said hesitantly. Wash didn’t really blame him for not wanting to get in the middle of this. Both of the boys tended to get pretty invested in their scrimmages against each other, Washington enjoying the thrill of a challenge and Tucker wanting to show off what a house player could do. Church was in goal, but he brought a lot of yelling into the equation. Simmons went off to the side of the field and watched them play while they all waited for the rest of the team to show up.

Tucker was really very good at defense, although that was something he had already known. Playing against him with Church in goal was a lot more difficult than he anticipated. Church was a pretty good goalie. He wasn’t good at catching the ball, but he was good at getting hit by it which only really worked for them because Tucker was so fast he’d get to the ball and kick it out before even Wash could get to it. Now, Wash wasn’t the fastest person his team, but it was still impressive for anyone who plays house to beat a varsity player to the ball. Voicing that opinion got him a few insults from Church.

Speed wasn’t enough to get past Washington. He jerked his body left then switched right, stealing the ball before Tucker could figure out which way he was going and kicking it towards the goal. Church got in the way, literally. It bounced off his hands and up into the air. Tucker looked at it like he was calculating where it was going to land, but Wash wasn’t going to wait for that. He jumped and hit the ball with his forehead straight into the goal.

He landed and threw his arms in the air. “I win!” He declared proudly. 

“Doesn’t that hurt?” A new voice spoke up. Tucker and Wash had gotten so caught up in their skirmish that neither of them had noticed that a few people had shown up. Caboose and Sarge were there, as well coach Flowers.

“Not really, Caboose.” Wash told him. “You’d be surprised how hard your forehead is.”

“So hard things don’t hurt? I once got hit by a softball, that hurt.” Caboose said. Wash stared at him for a moment but wasn’t sure how he could respond to something like that in way Caboose would understand.

“You’d be surprised at how hard Caboose’s head is.” Tucker nudged him. “Seriously, he’s not going to understand even the simplest thing you explain to him.”

“Maybe we should do some header drills.” Flowers said. “I think it would be a great addition to the skills you boys have.”

“I think that’s an excellent idea.” Simmons jumped up and went onto the field. “Do you have any tips for proper form?” Behind him, Tucker was mimicking him by mouthing the same words. Church had come out of the goal and was standing next to him now, laughing at his friend’s behavior. Wash’s instinct was to tell him not to make fun of his teammate behind his back, but now he wasn’t sure how that would go over. Maybe he was expected to laugh. He didn’t want to say something wrong, not in front of Church. Church didn’t seem to like him all that much, and he didn’t want to give him reason to make fun of him like that. He didn’t want Tucker to be laughing while Church made fun of him. The thought made his stomach sour, but he wasn’t entirely sure why.

“Settle down, son.” Flowers chuckled and patted Simmons’s head. “We still have a few teammates we’re waiting on.”

“But the Grifs are always late.” Simmons complained. Tucker was still mimicking him. Church didn’t seem like he’d find this old any time soon. 

“They’re still your teammates. Oh, speaking of,” Flowers waved at Donut and Lopez. Donut was jogging to the field, not really rushing, he mostly just looked excited. Lopez didn’t care anywhere near as much. Behind them in the parking lot, a car pulled up. Grif and Kai stepped out and slowly made their way to their team.

As their teammates made their way over, Tucker and Church wandered off the field to take a quick break. Washington followed suit. Church was pulling off the goalie gear he had put on for their scrimmage earlier, leaving Tucker’s attention to be turned on the other boy. Wash took a seat in the grass next to Tucker, who promptly leaned against him and even more surprising, reached into Wash’s pocket.

“Tucker, what the hell?” Wash pulled back quickly, not sure how to even react to what was happening.

“Is your phone in here?” Tucker asked, ignoring Wash’s reaction to what he’d done, as though it was completely normal to reach into other people’s pockets. “I’m gonna put my number in it.” He pulled his hand back when he didn’t find anything. 

Wash scooted away, too flustered by the sudden contact to stay put. He pulled his phone out from his other pocket and held it out for Tucker. “Why are you putting your number in my phone?”

“Well, we’re friends, aren’t we?” Tucker asked. “I could get math help from you whenever. Plus, you should come to our games sometime. You’re not able to play on your team, but you could help us out.”

“I’m pretty sure I’m not allowed to do that second thing.” Wash laughed. “I’m not on your team, I’m not on your team’s roster.”

“Uh, yeah, you totally can.” Tucker insisted. He handed the phone back to Wash. There was one text sent from the phone to Tucker, presumably so he’d have the number. “Just put on Church’s jersey or something. He never shows up anyways.”

“Are you seriously trying to replace me while I’m sitting right here?” Church asked, punctuating his statement with a shove.

“Hey!” Tucker protested. “You know it’s true. You never fucking show up.”

“Oh you’re so full of shit. I’m team captain and I’m almost _always_ there.”

“Is ‘almost’ synonymous with ‘rarely’ now?” Tucker threw back. “I think Wash would make a way better teammate than you.”

Church grabbed Tucker’s soccer ball and threw it down the field.

“What the fuck man?” Tucker stood up and ran after it. Church laughed and followed behind him, running to beat Tucker to the ball so he could kick it away again.

Wash looked between Tucker and Church and the rest of the team. He pulled himself to his feet and decided he might as well take a chance to get to know the rest of the team.

He made his way over to the two boys Grif and Simmons who were bickering while next to them Grif’s sister fawned over Donut’s nail polish. Sarge was off to the side talking about drills to the coach and Caboose was talking to a ladybug. 

“Shouldn’t the practice be starting sometime soon?” Washington asked. Grif looked up at him and scoffed.

“Nah, Sarge is wasting Flowers’ time so we got at least ten minutes before we do yoga. And Flowers usually likes to do that for another ten minutes.”

“Why are you complaining?” Simmons kicked at his friend’s shins, which was noisier than anything else as his cleats collided with his shin guards. Grif pulled his legs back and scowled. “You don’t even do anything, you just sit there and do nothing.”

“Yeah but I have to watch you do the stupid stretches.” Grif shrugged.

“You don’t have to watch me!” 

“But if I don’t watch you,” Grif explained, “I might miss you falling on your ass. Nobody wants that, I gotta make fun of you for it.”

“I only fell during yoga three times!” Simmons argued.

“Yeah, three times in one workout.” Grif said, laughing a bit as he did. 

“Would you just shut up?” Simmons crossed his arms and frowned at Grif. “I’m going to ask Flowers if we can start.”

“Ugh, no.” Grif whined. “Don’t do that.”

“You’re not a very disciplined team, are you?” Wash commented. “Do you win any of your games?”

“We win some games.” Simmons said. “We actually do pretty well! Just because we don’t look like much right now doesn’t mean that we’re not – ”

“Honestly, Tucker is the only reason we do well at all.” Grif interrupts him.

“Well, I still think that the team is as good as the best player – ”

“That’s not how it works at all!”

“Why is Tucker on this team anyways?” Wash questioned. “He must have played All Star when he was younger, why didn’t he get invited to any travel teams?”

“He never played All Star.” Grif said. “He’s always played house. He had issues staying with most teams, I dunno I guess he just didn’t like people, so this is actually the first team he’s even really been on. He’s been on a different team every season before high school.” 

“He’s only a sophomore though, so he hasn’t been on this team long at all.” Wash said.

“Well, yeah, actually. This is our third season as a team.” Grif shrugged. “I think he just does whatever makes him happy in the moment, he doesn’t give a fuck about what happens down the line. If he did, he might join a fancy travel team and try to get scouted.”

“Wait so, you’re saying he has no ambition?”

“Duh.” Simmons scoffed. “Have you met the guy?”

“To be fair, Simmons is the only one who has any sort of ambition on this team.” Grif said. “Just not in soccer. Cause I mean, you’ve seen him. He kind of sucks.”

“Hey!”

“I’m not saying anything that isn’t true, Simmons. I’m not saying anything that isn’t true.” He punctuated both sentences by poking Simmons’ glasses. Simmons slapped his hand away and the two went on to bicker about personal space as Simmons tried to clean off his lenses on his shirt. Washington thought back to the day before when Tucker told him that those two were in love. He wasn’t sure what to make of that. Could it even be true?

Wash turned to where Kai and Donut had been earlier to see if he could join in on anything with them, but they had already disbanded. Kai was practicing juggling the ball on her knee, which was actually very impressive and a lot more than Wash expected from this team, and Donut was off talking to Tucker. Church was off to the side of their conversation and laughing every time Tucker looked uncomfortable. Their eyes met for a second, and Wash smiled at him. Tucker looked away instantly. 

He didn’t have time to wonder about the weirdness of it all because Flowers finished talking to Sarge and called everyone into a circle to do warm up yoga. Wash stood next to Tucker in the circle, but Tucker didn’t seem willing to look at him, and was instead staring intently at Church who was making kissy faces at him.

Maybe he would have to ask someone on the team later if Tucker still had feelings for Church, if that was something any of them would even know. Maybe Donut would. He definitely seemed to know something and that interaction made him look to be the best lead on this. Then it would explain his behavior, at the very least. Well, most of it.

The rest of practice went without much of note happening, and Wash didn’t get the chance to talk to Kai like he had wanted. Wash certainly felt a bit weird being with Tucker and Church. He honestly felt a bit like a third wheel with them. The two have clearly been close friends for a long time. When practice was wrapped up, Church and Tucker were again at each other’s side.

“Tucker, you wanna come over to my place?” Wash overhead Church talking to Tucker. “Carolina isn’t going to be home so we can use the xbox.”

“Oh shit, definitely!” Tucker grinned widely. Wash really did like that smile.

Wash watched the way two were acting and he finally pinpointed that emotion that had been plaguing him since Church entered the picture.

“Shit.” 

David Washington was jealous of Church’s relationship with Tucker. But more than that, what it implied. He didn't want to think about it, but he might have a crush on this boy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so at some point I might be writing some side stories in this AU that go more into Church and Tucker's lives, because they have a really complicated relationship and Tucker is definitely overstating any romantic past they may have had just to piss Church off but I can't go too much into that until some other stuff happens sooo after a few more chapters I'll start bringing in side stories with more backstory
> 
>  
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter, again, I'm really sorry it's been so long, and it'll be another month before I can get another one out : (
> 
> if you liked this chapter, please tell me! if you didn't, tell me. I'm all for critiques! tell me what you guys think!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> late as usual, but here's another chapter!

Tucker wasn’t in class today. Wash thought that maybe he would end up coming late, that seemed probable. It was easy to image that Tucker would waste time in the hall talking to his friends, probably Church, and would show up late and not care if he got in trouble. 

That didn’t happen. Tucker’s seat stayed empty all class. Wash found himself having a hard time concentrating on learning as he tried to think of what could be wrong. Tucker didn’t seem sick the day before, but something could have hit him overnight. If he had been planning on not coming in today he would have told Wash, wouldn’t he? Or was Wash just considering them to be closer than they really were?

The only other thing that really happened during class was that Wash realized he was missing his calculator. He thought back to the last time he used it and realized he must have left it with Tucker. He’d have to ask him about that later.

Once math class ended, Wash headed into the restroom and pulled out his phone. 

_You okay?_

He erased that.

_Do you want today’s math notes?_

Yeah, that was a better in. Tucker didn’t respond right away and there wasn’t time to just stay in the bathroom and wait for one. Wash considered texting him about the calculator, but he decided against it. He’d just ask the next time they saw each other. No point in asking for something he couldn’t even get today.

Wash put the phone back in his pocket and made sure the sound was off before heading out to next class. It wasn’t until after school ended that he had another opportunity to check his phone. Technically he could have checked it in class, but he was always paranoid that the teacher would catch him and then he wouldn’t be able to read the texts at all.

He stood by the back door and opened his phone. _Three messages_ was scrawled across the screen.

_yeah thx_

That was all the first one said. Underneath it was another text with a timestamp from a few minutes after the first, like an afterthought. 

_wont be on the field but thats probs obv dont wait up_

_see you monday_

That didn’t really answer any questions, but maybe he could talk to Tucker about it on Monday. He probably just had a cold though, there was no reason to think about some fictional worst case scenario. Wash’s friends always did tell him he was paranoid. He decided to push his worry to the back of his mind, he probably was just being paranoid after all. Now he had to decide what to do. He could just go home, or he could hang out with his friends doing conditioning in the school gym. 

He glanced out the window and spotted Tucker’s friend Church hanging around the soccer field, looking towards the door where Wash was like he was waiting for something. Someone? He must know that Tucker isn’t here. Just because he didn’t text _him_ doesn’t mean that Tucker didn’t text Church either. Wash looked down the hall where the gym was and sighed. He could talk to his friends any other time, he wanted to see what Church was doing.

Wash couldn’t really read Church’s expression from where he was, but he didn’t seem to have any sort of reaction when Wash stepped out the door and started walking towards him. 

“Hey.” Wash called out once he was on the field.

“Hey.” Church replied. He sounded bored. “Are you looking for Tucker?”

“No, actually, I texted him when he didn’t show up for math.” Wash said. “Why are you hanging around here if you knew he wasn’t coming?”

“Tucker called me last night,” he began. “He said he wouldn’t be coming in today and he’s being a goddamn girl and didn’t want to talk to you but he also wanted you to know he wasn’t going to be here.”

Washington couldn’t really figure out to feel about that, but he decided that Tucker caring enough to have Church tell him was something to be happy about. “He asked you to stay here just to tell me he wasn’t going to be here?”

“Yeah.” Church said. “He likes you and he’s a fucking idiot.” Wash really wanted to ask him to elaborate on ‘like’ but Church didn’t seem like the type to do that for him.

“Oh well uh, thanks, Church. It was nice of you to wait around for me.” Wash said awkwardly.

“Sure, whatever.” Church shrugged. He turned and took a step away, but then he stopped and looked back towards Wash. “Hey, so I don’t know your opinion of Tucker, but I do know what Tucker thinks about you. And I think you should just leave him alone. Be an asshole, I don’t care. He really wouldn’t know what to do if someone tried to get close to him.”

Wash narrowed his eyes and stared at the boy in front of him. “Are you serious right now?”

“Yeah, I am serious.” Church held his gaze with a sort of cold intensity. “You don’t know shit about Tucker, and he’s never going to tell you anything. It’s not possible for you to get close to him, and it’s only going to upset him. Don’t be friends with Tucker.”

“Isn’t he friends with the rest of the team, why can’t I be friends with him?” Wash asked.

“You’re not on the team, and he’s not even friends with them, dude.” The other boy scoffed at the thought. “He’s teammates with them. Just talk to them, ask them what exactly they’d categorize Tucker as and most of them probably won’t say ‘friend’. I’m the only real friend Tucker has.”

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Wash demanded. “Are you – why are you acting so possessive?”

The ‘possessive’ accusation made Church laugh. “Look, Tucker is my best friend but he’s also annoying as fuck sometimes. Most of the time. I’d love to let someone have him, but that isn’t going to happen. He’s tried before, okay. He’s tried to get other friends, he’s even tried to date once in middle school, but it never works. I’m just warning you now so you don’t mad at him in the future. Nothing good will come out of trying to get close to him.”

Wash didn’t really know what else to say other than a few more insults and swearing, his mind couldn’t think of questions fast enough. He didn’t have the opportunity to say anything else anyways, Church turned and left, leaving Wash alone and lost.

But Leonard Church wasn’t the only Church in this school though. He might have given Wash a lot of questions and no answers, but maybe Carolina would have some for him.

Wash made his way back inside and towards the gym. All of his friends were already starting their workouts. York saw him walk in first.

“Yo, Wash!” York jumped out of the one of the expensive leg machines their coach and bought for the school to run up to Washington. “Man I haven’t seen you forever.”

“You saw him at lunch, York.” North told him.

“Yeah well I haven’t seen him _here_ in forever.” York said. 

“It’s kind of pointless to come here with Coach won’t me let exercise. I just jog in the morning now.” Wash said. “And while I could do leg workouts in here, you guys smell terrible.” He crinkled up his nose and stuck out his tongue, exaggerating his disgust. 

“Wow, rude.” York scoffed, and behind him North just laughed. 

“So why did you stop by today?” North asked Wash.

“I wanted to talk to Carolina about some things.”

“Oooh, anything juicy Wash?” York put his arm around Wash’s shoulder and pulled him close. Wash was very thankful that he got here early enough that York wasn’t coated in sweat. “Lina, Wash wants to talk to you,” he called out towards the back of the gym.

There was a sigh and a sound of weights hitting the ground and then Carolina walked to the front of the room where Wash was standing.

“Do you think I could talk to you in private?” Wash asked, pulling himself away from North and York as he did.

Carolina raised an eyebrow at him seemed to be mulling the idea over in her head for a moment before nodding. “I’ll give you five minutes.”

They left the gym and went into the empty hall.

“So, what did you have to talk about in private?” Carolina asked him once they were alone.

“Well, I was wondering, you know Tucker, right?” Wash said. “I was wondering…”

“Yes, I know him.” She seemed to tense up a bit. “Where’s this going?”

“Your brother was talking to me earlier today about him, and I just wanted to ask a few questions, if you know anything – ”

“What did Church tell you?” Carolina cut him off before he could finish. 

“What?”

“You said my brother talked to you, so what did he say?”

“Well yes but, he didn’t really say anything that didn’t just give me more questions.” Wash told her. “That’s why I came here to talk to you.”

“And what about Tucker?” She asked.

“He didn’t even want to tell me he wasn’t coming in today. Not until I texted him first, at least.”

Carolina sighed and looked at Wash with something like pity. “Look, Washington. You’ve only just met him, haven’t you? Give him some time and don’t go behind his back like this again if you want him to trust you. He’s,” She bit her lip, “He’s been through a lot and he doesn’t talk to anyone but my brother about it.”

“Church mentioned something about that. He said I shouldn’t even try to be friends with him.”

“That might actually be a good option.” 

“What sort of terrible secrets could he have that mean I shouldn’t even try to be friends with him?” Wash asked. “Because I’d think if there were anything bad going on he would want to have someone to talk to.”

“He does, he has Church.”

“Church is an asshole.” He paused, “I mean, no offense, I know he’s your brother and all,” He added quickly.

Carolina chuckled. “No, it’s fine, my brother is an asshole. But I’m telling you, they’re doing fine having each other. Even if Church does spend most of his time with that girl.” She gritted her teeth a bit at the thought of Tex. 

“I just really think – ” Wash began before getting cut off by Carolina.

“Look Wash, I need to get back to training. You can join us or go home, but I’m done talking about Tucker. It’s really not my place, anyways.” She walked past her friend and back into the gym, leaving Washington behind to stare at the spot she used to stand and engross himself in thought.

He enjoyed Tucker’s company, he loved playing soccer with him, he really liked being with him, but the only people who seem to know anything about him have both told him to just give up trying to be his friend. 

No, Washington was determined not to just give up. He left the school through a different door so he wouldn’t have to go back through the gym and walked the few blocks to his house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter! 
> 
> I'm hoping to get more on track with updates, but I might not be able to because I need to get a job, too :(  
> I'm contemplating making a patreon but idk if I'd get much from that


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy shit I'm actually updating something???  
> well hopefully this chapter will make up for how long it's been since I've written anything

Monday came and went without any real answers, which Church took the time to rub in when they crossed paths in the hallway. 

“How surprising that he didn’t tell you shit.” Church said.

“Dude, I’m right here.” Tucker punched Church’s shoulder with his left fist. His right hand a splint keeping his bones in place. It turned out that Tucker had broken two of his fingers; that was why he didn’t come into class last Friday. He was completely averse to Wash’s worrying.

“I didn’t break my _hand_ , Wash.” Tucker told him with a huff. “I broke two fingers.”

“Yeah, which are a part of your hand.” Wash retorted. 

“It’s not even important fingers. It’s just my pinky finger and ring finger.”

“On your right hand, don’t you write with that hand?”

“Yeah, but you don’t need those fingers to write.”

“It must make it more difficult.” Wash said.

“Oh my god, would you just get off my dick about this? I broke two fingers, it’s fine, its done.” Tucker frowned.

“How’d that happen anyway?” Wash asked, hoping Tucker wouldn’t get annoyed by that question. 

“I fell down the stairs.” He said. 

Washington wasn’t quite done with his questions though. “You fell down the stairs and broke your… fingers?”

“I broke them trying to grab the railing. Then I hit my head on the ground.” He pointed to his forehead where there was a nasty looking blue and red bruise around a small abrasion. It looked like he must have hit his head pretty hard on the ground when he fell. “It happened in the morning before school, so I couldn’t go in.”

Behind him, Church was glaring daggers at Tucker for something that Wash couldn’t really figure out. He stopped the instant he saw that Wash had noticed him doing it. Whatever that was about probably didn’t involve him, though. He couldn’t think of anything that it could be about that involve him. He was probably just mad that Tucker was giving up details, rather than Church’s vague ‘he called me last night’. Church was probably just being protective of his best friend, as usual.

“Oh hey, Tucker, do you have my calculator? I think I left it with you last week.” Wash said.

“Shit.” Tucker glanced away. “I uh, I did have it. I don’t have it anymore.”

“What do you mean? What happened?”

“I lost it.” Tucker wouldn’t say anything more than that. 

There was a silence between the two, with Church off to the side not taking his eyes off of Washington.

“You should come up with a better story.” Wash spoke up. “For breaking your fingers, I mean,” he added when both of the boys gave him weird looks. “Nobody but you has to know how you broke them, you could say you were punching a bad guy or saving a puppy.”

Tucker laughed, “Dude, that’s a great idea!”

For the next few days Tucker came up with at least five different ridiculous stories for how he broke his hand, and he did start saying that he broke his hand instead of his fingers. He decided that sounded more badass with his grandiose lies about it. Of course none of his stories really held up so after a few more questions the rest of the team learned about him falling down a flight of stairs. Grif liked to him a ‘fallen hero’ to make fun of both him falling and his heroic tales of grandeur. It wore off pretty quickly though.

 

OOOOO

 

It was Monday again, a week after Tucker had broken his hand. An autumn chill rested over the town, which wouldn’t have been bad on its own, but it was coupled with harsh winds that kept blowing Wash’s hair into his eyes. He used some wrap from his bag to make a headband, but it could only help so much. Wash was more accustomed to obnoxious conditions than Tucker was, so it was nothing he wasn’t willing to put up with. Tucker, on the other hand, wouldn’t stop complaining as the two ran laps around the field. 

“All right, fuck this.” Tucker said as a leaf smacked him in the face. “We should just go inside.”

“Come on, Tucker.” Wash chastised him. “I thought you wanted to get better.”

“To be fair, you’re the one who wanted me to get better. I’m alright with being mediocre.” Tucker told him. “Plus, my nipples are totally starting to chafe. I don’t wanna run anymore.”

“You always say that.” Wash shakes his head. “But all right. It is pretty windy. I doubt it would be a good idea to try to kick a ball in this wind.” It would be good practice for a competitive player to play in adverse weather, but like Tucker was so happy to point out, he wasn’t all that interested in being a competitive soccer player. Even if he did have the talent for it. He lacked the discipline, and when he decided he was done it was hard even for Wash to get him to start putting effort into his training again.

They both grabbed their things from the side of the soccer field and headed towards the front of the school. The front doors didn’t get locked until 4:30, so they could still get inside. There were still some lights on in the front, but as they ventured deeper into the building most of the lights were only half on. 

“So,” Wash began, looking around at the dimly lit hallway, “Was there something you wanted to do in here? You just kind of kept walking. I thought you were going somewhere but,” He looked around to make sure there wasn’t something he was missing, but no, there was nothing here for them.

“Huh?” Tucker looked at him, “Oh, uh, no, not really. I just didn’t want to be inside. I didn’t have any ideas.” He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. 

Washington thought for a moment. “I have an idea. Follow me.” He walked down the halls towards the junior lockers. He stopped in front of 619 and entered in his locker combo. Inside the locker, along with some text books, was a skateboard. 

Trucker was practically jumping where he stood. “Dude, you have to show me how to ride that thing.”

Wash dropped the skateboard down and took off. “You’ll have to catch me if you want a turn!” He called over his shoulder.

“Oh you’re on!” Tucker was yelling behind him. It wasn’t all that easy staying away from someone in a school. Anywhere he turned lead into a dead end since that’s how hallways were laid out, so it wasn’t long before Tucker had him cornered.

“You got me.” Wash put his hands up in the air. He kicked the skateboard over towards Tucker. “It’s pretty easy, just put your feet – no no, that’s not right!” Washington moved over to Tucker and shifted his feet on the board. “There, now,” Tucker stumbled a bit and leaned right up against Washington.

“Whoops.” He said sheepishly. Wash could feel himself blushing, and was very grateful that the school was only half-lit after hours.

“Now just,” Wash took a step away from Tucker. “Push off with your front foot and keep your balance.”

Tucker looked very wobbly on the skateboard. He made no attempts to speed up, and kept way too low and was so nervous that Wash couldn’t help but laugh.

“Fuck off, my hand is broken. I don’t want to fall and hurt it worse.”

Wash took the board back and shot Tucker a grin before skating down the hall and jumping up to flip his board under his feet. He turned back and made his way over to Tucker again. “And my entire arm is broken.”

“Show off.” Tucker huffed.

The two continued to take turns riding around the empty halls. The smooth floors offered a great surface for a beginner like Tucker to pick up the basics, and after about half an hour he had gotten the hang of simple turns and was starting to try some pivots. 

“Yeah – that’s great!” Wash said as Tucker practiced the pivoting movement Wash had just shown him. 

“When am I going to learn how to do an ollie oop or a 360?” Tucker asked.

Wash chuckled, “Give it a few months and maybe I’ll show you something. You’re going to fall your first times trying any sort of trick and that’s no good if you have any broken bones.”

“You’re no fun.” Tucker stuck his tongue out at him. “Hey, do you hear that?”

They both quieted and listened to a low buzzing noise coming from down the hall.

“Shit, I think that’s the janitor.” Tucker jumped off the skateboard and pushed Wash towards the lockers. “We are so going to get in trouble. Clubs should’ve left by now, which means we’re not supposed to be here.”

“You’re right.” Wash hadn’t even remembered that. He was having a lot of fun just hanging out with Tucker he didn’t realize they were here too late.

“We should sneak into a classroom or something. The janitor is just waxing the floors, he won’t go inside any rooms.”

“The doors are all going to be locked.” Wash told him.

“Mr. Wilson always forgets to lock his door, it’s right over there. Grab your skateboard and I’ll show you the way.”

Wash put his board under his arm and let Tucker lead him away by the hand to a room just a few halls down. It was weird, being in a classroom with all the lights off like this. He put his skateboard down by the door so he couldn’t forget about it and sat down by the bookshelf with his friend.

“So,” Wash began. “Why do you know this room is open?”

“Huh? Oh,” Tucker fiddled with the brace on his fingers. “I come in here sometimes, when it’s raining or snowing or whatever and I don’t wanna be outside.”

“And you don’t just . . . go home?”

“No.”

They sat in silence for a moment.

“It’s kind of nice.” Tucker spoke up again. “It’s comfortable, you know? Being in the dark, away from everyone. It’s like nothing else, y’know, exists. It’s just,” He made a vague hand gesture.

“I, I don’t know.” Wash said.

Tucker sighed. “Maybe it’s just me then.”

Wash took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He tried to think about what Tucker felt here. The emptiness, the darkness, and he could feel something. It reminded him of when he was younger, back when he had a reason to hide away, when he wanted to be alone all the time. Maybe that’s what Tucker was feeling now.

“I think I like it better now.”

“Why’s that?” Wash asked him.

“It’s nice having someone else here. I know that kinda goes against the whole reason I liked hanging out in here to begin with, but, I dunno. I like being with you.”

“I like being with you, too.”

“Hey.” Tucker leaned against Wash’s shoulder. “So I was thinking, you can totally ignore me if you want to, what happens in the dark creepy classroom stays in the dark creepy classroom and all, but I think it’d be a really good idea for you to kiss me right now.”

“I – what?” Wash stared him.

“You should kiss me. Dude I’m not stupid, I can tell when someone likes me back, so you should just-“ He didn’t get to finish that sentence. Wash pressed their lips together and kissed him. It was awkward. Wash went too quickly, his lips caught Tucker’s upper lip and he was pretty sure his nose hit Tucker’s glasses for a second. He pulled away and Tucker looked like he was trying not to laugh. Wash decided he better try that again before Tucker could have some smart-ass remark. He put his hand to Tucker’s cheek and pulled him in for a second kiss. Tucker’s lips were soft and wet. It was kind of strange, really, but it was also really nice. 

“So you are into me.” Tucker grinned. The small amount of light in the room caught his eyes and god, they were a really nice shade of brown. Soft and warm and Wash had to lean in to kiss Tucker again.

“Church is definitely going to hate me now.” Wash said, smiling.

“I could say the same.” Tucker said. “So maybe just, don’t tell him.”

“Can I ask about your relationship with him?”

“Is that really want to want to talk about right after kissing me?”

“Well,” Wash thought about it, “I guess not.”

“That’s what I thought.” Tucker said. He looked at the clock on the wall. It was hard to make out the time, but it looked like it was about 5:40. “We should probably get out of here. The janitor should make it by this place in a few minutes then we can just slip out the front door. It’s about time for me to head home anyways.”

“Where do you live?”

“I like you dude, and I totally like kissing you, but I’m not about ready for you move in.”

“That’s not what I asked!”

Tucker laughed, “Yeah yeah, I know. Still not gonna tell you.”

“Then what do you want to talk about? We do have a few minutes to burn before we get out of here, don’t we?”

Tucker leaned up against him. “I dunno. Why do you like soccer so much? I mean, you’re on the varsity team and everything! That’s crazy. That’s a lot of work to put into something that’s just supposed to be fun.”

“I guess,” Wash said, “but you get a sense of pride from it. You work hard, and you can see the results when the other team sulks away after you beat them.”

“Oh man, you’re heartless bro.” Tucker’s shoulders shook a bit as he stifled a laugh. “You like destroying their hopes and dreams?”

“Hey no, it’s not like that!” Wash nudged him roughly. “It’s a battle. It feels nice to win, and, uh, huh. I guess it is kind of like that. We do destroy them, and it feels pretty damn nice.”

“Ever make anyone cry?”

“No, but Carolina did. But that was because she kicked the ball so hard at the goalie that when he tried to block it, it knocked him to the ground. He probably got a hexagonal bruise from that.”

“I would not want to play soccer against her. She is scary man. Scary. Totally hot, but scary.” He paused. “Nowhere near as hot as you though. I totally dig blondes.” 

“You’re seriously making me wonder why I like you.”

“I’m irresistible. It can’t be helped.”

“Yeah, alright.” Wash agreed. “So,” he continued, “What about you? Why do you like soccer?”

“It’s just fun. It’s something to do, and I can kinda forget about everything else when I play. Nothing else really matters, just me and the ball and winning the game.”

“Why don’t you want to play competitively?”

“Too much work. Plus games are super far away when you start doing travel or varsity, and my dad would complain so fucking much if he had to take me that far. He’s fine and all, he’s proud of me playing soccer, he knows I’m good, but he’s not really the type to put effort into my hobbies. And if I were getting rides from other people he’s just get mad that I’m mooching off of other people, he’d think I don’t appreciate him.”

“That’s . . . I guess that’s understandable.”

Outside the door the sound of the floor waxer was getting louder. 

“I think he’s almost done with this hall.” Tucker told him. “We’ll be able to make our grand escape in a minute.” He got up and looked out the window for a few moments. “And he’s done. You ready to blow this popsicle stand?”

“Yeah, I’m ready. Let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you like my story, please tell me! I thrive on comments.


End file.
